Review: The Nest

By Kenneth Oppel
Illustrated by Jon Klassen
Available now from Simon & Schuster BFYR
Review copy

Kenneth Oppel and Jon Klassen are both titans of children's literature.  Their first collaboration is a creepy confection sure to delight fans of CORALINE.  I hate to make the same comparison as the marketing, but this is one of those cases where it is true.

Steve's baby brother is sick.  It is a congenital problem, and he needs surgery, and he might not ever be completely normal.  That's when Steve first dreams about the angels, the wasps, who offer to help.  At first it seems like his dreams might just be a sensitive boy dealing with a tough time, experiencing his family's stress the only way he can.  But the dreams are getting more sinister, and Steve is starting to suspect that he shouldn't have agreed to let the wasp queen help.  Of course, no adults will believe him that they need to protect the baby from the wasps.

Klassen's art is a terrific accompaniment to the story.  In black and white his distinctive style looks quite sinister.  It's startling white shapes on black backgrounds and shadows on shadows.  Although the illustrations look quite simple, each enhances the mood of the text.

Oppel's writing is in fine form.  The text is rather large on the page, so THE NEST is even shorter than it seems.  The words are as deceptively simple as the illustrations.  Even a slower reader probably won't take to long to get through THE NEST, excepting for breaks to slow the creepy-crawlies.  As short as the story is, it's the kind that burrows into you and makes you look at the world around you in a different way, as everyday things become sinister.  It's also a well done portrait of childhood anxieties, both normal kid fears and trying to understand the fears of your parents which you can sense even when they try to hide them.

I expect this scary story will become a new children's classic.  If it doesn't, that's a true shame.

Review: The Cottage in the Woods

By Katherine Coville
Available now from Knopf BFYR (Penguin Random House)
Review copy

I love fairytale retellings, and was familiar with Katherine Coville's art from the work she did on her husband Bruce Coville's novels.  I was quite curious to see what she would do with the story of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears."  It turns out that she would marry it to Victorian romance and social issues in an engrossing pastiche.

Ursula travels to the Vaughn home to be a governess to Teddy, an unusually well-behaved child.  She soon discovers that the house holds a secret, a young blonde human.  Meanwhile, she finds herself drawn to Mr. Bentley, a fellow employee of the house, despite a disastrous first meeting.  She also finds herself involved in local politics, as the Enchanted of the town work to live with the humans as equals, not lessers. 

I loved how the fairytale story weaved together with a Pride-and-Prejudice-esque plotline for Ursula and the tensions between the Anthropological Society and the men's choir (as the pro-humans and equality factions are known).  What I'm not so sure is that the middle grade audience will enjoy it.  It's a long story, and the style is somewhat old fashioned.  I think it's a treat, but would a ten year old?

I think it is worth a try for any fan of fairytales.  The twists on Goldilocks are clever, as are the references to other stories such as "The Musicians of Bremen."  At the very least, it might make a good read-aloud book.  But I think the main audience is older, the sort who enjoy classic literature as well as a bit of whimsy.

Review: Millhouse

By Natale Ghent
Available now from Tundra Books
Review copy

I kept guinea pigs as a kid.  (One of mine even lived longer than a decade.)  You can bet I read all of the Dick King Smith books I could get my hands on, because those books had guinea pigs in them.  Even now, at twenty five, I picked up Natale Ghent's MILLHOUSE in an instant, just because the main character is a guinea pig.

Set in a pet shop (run mostly by the innattentive Weekend Boy), MILLHOUSE is the story of a guinea pig raised by a thespian who just wants to get back to the stage.  He'll have to survive a hungry ferret, befriend a strange rat, and endear himself to the other animals despite his lack of a fur coat before then.  Ghent's illustrations fit the book perfectly - they're cute and ever-so-slightly old fashioned.  MILLHOUSE is brand new, but you could almost believe it came out twenty years ago.

As I write this review, I find myself influenced by Charlotte's recently posted questions for "mouse" fantasies:

1. If all the mice and other animal characters were people, would the plot be appreciably different?  Would my emotional response be any different? 

2. And following from that, is there any "mousiness" to the main character?   If I were never told he or she was a mouse, would I suspect that there was something not-human going on?  Does the fact that the rodents wear clothes and fight with swords distract me?

I think MILLHOUSE passes.  The pet shop, with its potential owners and cages, informs the actions, desires, and fears of the characters.  Certainly nothing you'd expect in a story about humans.  Millhouse's acting aspirations are rather more human than anything the other animals express, but he's still clearly a guinea pig.  For one thing, his reaction to danger is to freeze and faint.  And there isn't much clothes wearing, aside from a few props.

I thought MILLHOUSE was quite charming and perfect for the child who loves animals.  It's a very quick read, suitable for reading aloud or beginning readers.  (I'd say it's about the length of Beverly Cleary's THE MOUSE AND THE MOTORCYCLE.)  The themes of appreciating misfits and pursuing your talent aren't pushed overly hard, and they're certainly fitting for a children's book even if they aren't revelatory.